FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT TALENT AGENT - PAGE 5

UTA TV chief and partner Matt Rice has been named a member of the agency's board of directors. Rice joins Peter Benedek, chairman Jim Berkus, Tracey Jacobs, managing director David Kramer, managing director Jay Sures and CEO Jeremy Zimmer on the UTA board. Rice is a TV lit stalwart who runs the agency's scripted TV business with Sures. The promotion to a board seat gives him expanded management responsibilities. "Matt's contributions are everything we hope for from a partner and a board member.

Last week's "casting special" whittled the "Make Me A Supermodel" field down to 14 finalists, including Ronnie Kroell, a 24-year-old student who claims Chicago as his hometown. He and the other runway wannabes will compete on the show for $100,000 and a modeling contract with New York Model Management. You've heard co-hosts Nikki Taylor and Tyson Beckford weigh in on what they think makes a supermodel. Now hear Tab Tanner, RedEye's in-house public relations expert and talent scout extraordinaire.

WATCH THIS SHOW! Chuck !!!! 7 p.m. Monday, NBC What's up viewers? How can I convince you to show unlikely secret agent man Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) some love? His undercover girlfriend and CIA protector, Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski), is the hottest TV spy since Sydney Bristow of "Alias," and his other handler, Casey (Adam Baldwin), is the funniest straight man ever. Did I mention his Buy More co-workers? Hilarious. Or his fascinating missions and his evil nemeses?

UTA talent agent Barbara Dreyfus has been tapped as head of motion pictures for Will Packer Productions. Packer, whose comedy "Ride Along" scored big at the box office with $48 million this past weekend, recently signed a three-year first look deal with Universal Pictures. Dreyfus' appointment marks the first major hire for his company. Dreyfus spent the last 13 years at UTA representing writers, directors and producers, and prior to that was an agent at ICM where she spent eight years in the motion picture literary department.

A federal judge on Thursday resentenced onetime sports agent Lloyd Bloom to five years probation, instead of prison, in connection with charges he had fraudulently represented college football stars. Under terms of the probation imposed by U.S. District Judge George Marovich, Bloom must perform 500 hours of community service. Bloom, now a Hollywood talent agent, pleaded guilty to a charge of mail fraud for inducing Rod Woodson, a cornerback at Purdue, to falsely claim on an athletic eligibility form that he wasn`t represented by a sports agent.

Tenpercenter Chris Highland has jumped aboard the New York office of UTA, where the talent agent will focus on legit while also repping clients in film and TV. Highland ankles Paradigm, where he's worked since early last year. His clients include Victor Garber, last on Broadway in the 2010 revival of "Present Laughter"; Josh Hamilton, currently appearing alongside Katie Holmes in previewing play "Dead Accounts"; and Patina Miller, the "Sister Act" topliner set to star this spring in Diane Paulus' revival of "Pippin" at Boston regional A.R.T.

Stella McCartney will co-host a virtual anti-fur protest this month in the online fantasy world known as Second Life. The weeklong protest will begin July 12 on a dedicated island in the computer-generated universe, it was announced last week by animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The island will feature stables, picnic tables and Linda McCartney veggie-burger stalls. Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon is pregnant with twin boys. The actress and her husband, talent agent Mike Nilon, expect to welcome their first children in November, her publicist said.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel loves golf. Not to play. Perhaps not even to watch. But while serving as Senior Advisor to President Bill Clinton, Emanuel capitalized on the president's golf jones. During Saturday's visit to Medinah for the Ryder Cup, Emanuel said he would get "all the answers I needed" while Clinton practiced on the White House putting green. "Every Sunday he would play," Emanuel recalled. "I'd get his schedule and would go out and literally get all my work done for the entire week -- all the yeses.

Our Flick of the Week is "Kazaam," which proves that Shaquille O'Neal needs more than a free-throw coach. The genial, genuinely appealing basketball star needs a coach or talent agent to help him select movie projects. The agent could begin by asking Shaq if any prospective script could be turned into a movie Shaq himself would pay to see. "Kazaam," I suspect, doesn't qualify. Rather, it's the kind of project someone probably told Shaq would sell to kids. It's marketing, not moviemaking.